President Joe Biden, who’s conveniently on vacation, said he heard about the raid on Mar-a-Lago at the same time everyone else did, on the news (a line he picked up from his old boss). And if Newsweek is to be believed, Attorney General Merrick Garland had no prior knowledge of the raid. Reportedly, the FBI planned for the raid when Donald Trump wasn’t home because they wanted the operation to be “low-profile.”
Exclusive: An informer told the FBI what documents Trump was hiding, and where
✍️ @warkin
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 10, 2022
Newsweek reports:
The raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents, two senior government officials told Newsweek.
The officials, who have direct knowledge of the FBI’s deliberations and were granted anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters, said the raid of Donald Trump’s Florida residence was deliberately timed to occur when the former president was away.
FBI decision-makers in Washington and Miami thought that denying the former president a photo opportunity or a platform from which to grandstand (or to attempt to thwart the raid) would lower the profile of the event, says one of the sources, a senior Justice Department official who is a 30-year veteran of the FBI.
If the FBI’s source knew the location of the documents, what were the FBI agents doing going through Melania’s closets?
Oh come on.
“They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite." https://t.co/w7q0DdwkDO
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 10, 2022
… “senior government officials say the raid was scheduled with no political motive, the FBI solely intent on recovering highly classified documents that were illegally removed from the White House.”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 10, 2022
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The story’s sources also claim AG Garland had “no prior knowledge” of the raid, which would be flabbergasting, if true. I’m really struggling to believe that. If it’s true, it’s an absolute mess.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 10, 2022
Is the AG looking to escape culpability for this given how bad it looks now?
— Dan Knight (@DanKn9ght) August 10, 2022
If the DoJ’s culture is such where the FBI field offices would take this on without running it up the chain, Garland still must resign because it’s out of control
— Shawn (@Shawn_on_Games) August 10, 2022
https://twitter.com/just_a_rand0/status/1557451076936372224
Hmmm I wonder if he’s feeling like there is a bit of risk to him and now he is looking for plausible deniability (of which there is none)
— Scott Strachan (@ScottStrachan3) August 10, 2022
Who is deciding to do such extraordinary things without consent from top officials? Im not one that feels “I didn’t know” (when you are in charge and supposed to know) is a comforting response.
— Ciaran Wilcox (@CiaranWilcox) August 10, 2022
We're at the "blame it on Cincinnati" stage
— S D Winkler (@sdwinkler) August 10, 2022
The argument that the AG is or should be at some distance from the president has its merits, even if it's naive.
But since when is the AG at arm's length from his own department?
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) August 10, 2022
If AG Garland is lying about not knowing in advance about a raid on the former President’s house, that’s very bad.
If he’s telling the truth, that’s worse.
— CB (@TexasCB) August 10, 2022
EVERYBODY knew. The end.
— Chris Orr (@ChrisOrrOnline) August 10, 2022
They really expect us to believe Garland wasn’t in the loop on a high profile search of an EXTREMELY high profile target with enormous political overtones? Sure, and @WHCOS doesn’t keep track of when Joe last had his medication.
— Silence Dogood (@lordthx1139) August 10, 2022
The thrust of Newsweek’s story is that the FBI “failed spectacularly” at its attempt to keep the raid “low-profile” — and now Trump is trying to “politicize” it.
Related:
‘Zero shame’: NBC analyst John Heilemann accuses Trump of politicizing FBI raid on his home https://t.co/7OjPA20K9u
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 10, 2022
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